ABTTF President Habip Oğlu accuses Greece of “Double Standards” on Minority Rights
Halit Habip Oğlu, President of the Federation of Western Thrace Turks in Europe (ABTTF), has criticized Greece for applying double standards on minority rights, following statements by Greek Deputy Foreign Minister Haris Theoharis regarding the Greek minority in Albania.
Deputy Foreign Minister Theoharis represented the Greek government at the inauguration of a road network improvement project in the mountainous Upper Pogoni region of Albania. In his speech, he said that the Greek national minority in Albania serves as a bridge of friendship and cooperation between the two countries.
Theoharis expressed Greece’s desire for the Greek minority to remain an integral part of Albanian society and to contribute to the prosperity of both nations. He also underlined that the protection of the Greek national minority’s identity, property, language, and education rights is a priority in Greece’s foreign policy. According to him, safeguarding these rights is an essential condition for Albania’s European Union (EU) accession process.
Commenting on these remarks, ABTTF President Halit Habip Oğlu stated that Greece does not show the same sensitivity toward the Turkish minority in Western Thrace as it does toward the Greek minority in Albania.
“It is natural and understandable for our country’s Deputy Foreign Minister Haris Theoharis to care about the rights of the Greek minority in Albania. However, we would expect our country to show the same concern for the Turkish community of Western Thrace, who are also Greek citizens,” said Habip Oğlu.
He added that Greece continues to deny the Turkish identity of the Western Thrace Turks, bans associations bearing the word “Turkish” in their names, and works to abolish the educational and religious autonomy guaranteed by the Treaty of Lausanne.
Habip Oğlu emphasized that the Copenhagen Criteria imposed by Greece on EU candidate countries should also apply to current member states.
“When it comes to our community, our country ignores even the most basic human rights,” he said. “There can be no double standards in human and minority rights, yet our country has been doing this for years. While it sets conditions for its neighbor Albania’s EU accession, when will it realize that these same criteria apply to itself?”
